anticipation and a wait and see attitude, quite frankly. but i'll harken back to the words of president obama in introducing hagel and announcing his nomination is that hagel has a particular unique experience in the military as an enlisted ground pounder. one who fought the war in vietnam and as the president pointed out still carries shrapnel in the chest. twice wounded, two purple hearts. he has as the president said understands the consequences of war so he would be less likely than some previous secretaries in this job to commit troops to war that some might consider unnecessarily. now, i'll take a little bit of exception in my colleagues at first read who claim that the president chose him because hagel could not be intimidated by the generals. i have not covered any secretary of defense who is intimidated by the generals.

they take the best advice from the military leadership and they, in turn, walk arm and arm over to the white house, give it to the president and that's where those kinds of decisions are made. but i can tell you, one of the biggest challenges facing chuck hagel if, in fact, he is confirmed by the senate, is this budget battle. not necessarily here in the pentagon because, again, when the orders come down to cut this, cut that, cut this, the u.s. military has to oblige. they have to get it done. the biggest problem and this is where perhaps chuck hagel, you know, in terms of the kind of difficulties he's having now on capitol hill, may run in to some difficulty, is convincing members of congress up there on capitol hill who, in fact, take on their pet pork barrel projects, even though the pentagon has said we don't want those programs. we don't want those airplanes. congress, instead, votes -- goes ahead and votes for it because

it means money and votes back home for many members of congress. so i think that ultimately will be the biggest challenge for secretary of defense chuck hagel if, in fact, he is confirmed, tamron. >> you took issue with what first read pointed out, which is the politics which is what i was starting out the conversation with you regarding, the politics of this, when you have general mcchrystal and we'll play him later today on the "today" show this morning talking about a disconnect between the generals and those leaders of the military and the white house particularly in afghanistan. so it's not asking you to delve in to the politics but face it, it is political. >> reporter: well, you know, the trust between the u.s. military leadership and the civilian leadership is always a very delicate balance. you don't find -- and i guess if you want to strictly define the word politics, they're not really playing politics.

what they're trying to do is preserve whatever strategy, whatever pet projects the military may have in mind separate and apart from politics because they realize that ultimately it's going to come down to the decisions by the civilian leadership and again even if you want to call it politics, i have not yet covered a secretary of defense who has been intimidated by the generals because the generals even though they may disagree with the civilian leadership as even general mcchrystal will point out, will have to salute smartly and follow the orders. it doesn't mean there's dissension in the ranks but a different, honest differences of opinions which have to be resolved and ultimately they are resolved, sometimes by the president himself. >> mick, thank you very much. >> reporter: okay. joining me is two guests. thank you, gentlemen. jim, i'll start off with you on

this. for whatever reason mick takes issue from the first raid team is that the president looking for someone not intimidated but we know time and time again looking at issues of war, you have had candidates, elected officials saying i defer to the generals on the ground and saying you civilian lawmakers have never served. these guys have been in there. those who cannot do teach or those who do teach or whatever. you know why they say that. >> yeah. i think that the generals over history have played the card we know what's best because we have been there on the ground so i do think -- it's an interesting discussion to have but i definitely think that consideration is in the mix, that, you know, a secretary of defense with actual military experience, not just military experience but infantry experience, squad leader in vietnam. >> has shrapnel in his body. saving his brother at the time. they're true and adds gravitas

to this man facing a difficult nomination process. >> in this nomination or previously obama's even said which, i think is a powerful phrase, he knows the price of war which mean s for a variety f reasons. the cost in blood and treasure. >> it's interesting senator john mccain and andrea mitchell my colleague in the prior hour pointed out earlier today many watching to see what his response would be and lindsey graham's hard line against chuck hagel. senator mccain's statement says chuck hagel served our nation with honor in vietnam and congratulate him on the nomination. i have serious concerns about positions he has taken on a range of national security issues and senator mccain will be at the table. we have colin powell who's come out in support of the nam nation saying he's proud of the record and the words may matter but he won't be there in that nomination process. what do you think will play out here the most? >> i think it's obvious people

against the nomination focusing on three things, the budget fight which i think hagel is valuable because he says things that people think and don't say with taboo subjects. the budget is out of control and needs to be reeled in and looking at the record on iran for which he's described as outside the mainstream and i think there's -- if you poll the american people, nobody wants to go to war with iran, the end point of what we're talking about near and then there's the question about whether he's anti-israel or anti-semitic. that's preposterous. i haven't seen anything he's done with israel, he speaks some hard truths and says things that people think but don't say about what's going on in israel. >> josh, let's bring you in. the article is fantastic. you lay out the groups that would likely have strong opposition. i want to play what joe scarborough said this morning picking up on the comments that chuck hagel is outside the

mainstream. >> this is being said, by the way, of a war hero. >> right. >> of a -- this is important. a war hero with shrapnel around with him. this is a guy. we know him from many different things but runs the atlantic council which is about as mainstream an organization as you will get in foreign policy. anybody out there wants to say that chuck hagel is outside the mainstream of foreign policy, i suggest they turn the mirror around on them. >> so josh, in your article as i said you pointed out some of these organizations who will come out and try to pressure lawmakers. joe says i suggest they turn the mirror back on themselves. are you seeing effective argument that is are last through the nomination process and may certainly put hagel against the ropes? >> i don't know if hagel is outside the mainstream but in a

place there aren't many members of congress publicly, you know, when these letters are sent up by apac and other pro-israel groups, hagel among maybe six or four senators that didn't sign them and 90 senators did sign them. on operations like the libya operation, he was a critic of that. he seems to be opposed to a lot of u.s. military interventions overseas whether they be for humanitarian reasons or other reasons. i don't know if i'd say he's outside of mainstream but an argument is made he could be in some areas left of president obama at least the way president obama has carried out policy over the last four years. >> so then when he is in the hot seat as we refer to it during his confirmation hearing, how do we suspect he'll address the concerns? start off with israel. >> well, i think he's going to have to put forward some sort of moderation, semiapology maybe for things he said, at least the

tone and phrasing. the phrase the jewish lobby offends some people. i don't think it's only neo-cons finding that offensive and the remarks about apac and pro-israel calling some of the tactics stupid and can't deny them because they're on tape. i think you will see him try to tune down the remarks and move toward the substance and where i think jim is right and probably not that far from where the american people and maybe a lot of america's jewish community are on a lot of the foreign policy issue. >> how much of this in your reporting or interviewing with sources saying that this is about his opposition to the war in iraq, not revenge or payback, but perhaps, i don't know what would be the word but it seems that seems to be a thorn in the sigh still of some republicans. >> i think especially with republican senators, there's still some resentment. i think you saw some with lindsey graham on sunday about

hagel really being the first prominent republican to step off the bus on the iraq war under president bush and say this is headed in the wrong direction and may have been a terrible mistake. even though other people came around to that view and that was president obama's view after all. i think there is still some resentment in republican quarters that he did that. i think, though, it can probably be overcome if he has a successful confirmation hearing. >> do you believe it will be a success for hagel? i'll ask both of you. josh, you first. >> i think ultimately he will be confirmed. i think continuing to take a considerable amount of flack over a variety of issues, in particular stance on israel and what to do about the upcoming showdown with iran. >> jim, your thoughts? >> i think he will be confirmed. >> that was brief and to the point. thank you very much, jim and josh. appreciate your time. and she's back. a first look at secretary of state hillary clinton on her first day back at work after being hospitalized for a concussion and a blood clot and

wait until you see the picture of the gift the secretary of state received from her staff. plus, the republican congressman who says a government shutdown would do us some good. >> i believe that that government shutdown gave us the impetus as we went forward to push toward some real serious compromises. i think it's about time. and our political panel weighing in on that and today's "news nation" "gut check." the decision to keep rg3 in the game. did the redskins put the rookie qb's health at risk? it's a hot topic out there and rg3, he has tweeted out to his fans and the critics of his coach, join our conversation on twitter.

welcome back. several top republicans standing by the support of a partial government shutdown if democrats don't agree with spending cuts. john cornyn wrote in a recent op-ed, quote, it may be necessary to partially shut down the government. here's what arizona congressman said just yesterday. >> i believe that that government shutdown gave us the impetus as we went forward to push toward some real serious compromise. i think it drove bill clinton in a different direction. a very bipartisan direction. i think it's about time. >> well, this pressure comes with several key deadlines just around the corner. the deadline to raise the debt ceiling late next month despite

hitting the limit welcome. march 2nd, the sequester kicks in. march 27th, in spring when the rest of us are happy it's warming up, could be freezing in d.c. because funding for the government stops. let's bring in the political panel. molly ball and chris cofinis. thank you for joining us. >> thank you, tamron. >> we know how the year ended with the fiscal cliff. i cannot remember the comedian saying he hopes to never say the words fiscal cliff but there are many more problems ahead here. i'm intrigued by this notion of the government shutdown. i want to play mitch mcconnell on "meet the press" and abc asked about a government shutdown. >> would you rule out a government shutdown to achieve your goals? >> what i think we tugt do is encourage the path to actually be president. address the single biggest -- >> i understand that's your view. would you rule out a government

shutdown? >> i know what your question is. what i'm telling you is i haven't given up on the president stepping up to the plate. >> what exactly does that mean, a partial shutdown of the government and do you endorse it? >> look. it only -- the only reason we're asking the discussions is president and the democratic majority in the senate unwillingness to cut spending. >> how far are you willing to take this strategy? >> my answer is hopefully we don't need to get to that point. the president must know we're spending way too much. why not do something about reducing spending? >> molly, what did you get of the comments and those of the republicans saying they're ready to shut it down? >> i think it similar to the negotiating tactic in the democrats in advance of the fiscal cliff is don't push us. we are so crazy we just might do it. we're ready to shut this thing down. we have obama saying quite firmly over and over again this is not a topic of negotiation for him.

the republicans know that they do have some leverage over the debt limit and so they need to push him to the negotiating table and if that's by threatening a shutdown, that's apparently what they'll do. >> i want to play what nancy pelosi said regarding the 14th amendment and comments got a lot of attention. >> this is a conversation where there should be no doubt. in fact, if i were president, i would use the 14th amendment which says that the -- that of the united states will always be paid. >> you would do it. you wouldn't wait? >> i would do it, right. >> many strategies, go do it. some republicans with a clear split there of what to do regarding a shutdown or not. your perspective on where things stand, i know that we have heard washington should not draw lines in the sand but the president has on certain issues including as you heard what molly pointed out. >> well, surprise-surprise. we are not headed to a good

place. >> no. why, why? why do you think that is at this point? >> the problem is you have a republican party right now fractured and weakened and they need to draw a line from their perspective in order to force the president to compromise on spending. the problem is they're playing russian roulette with the american people once again. the idea of shutting down the government, i can tell you this without a doubt, they'll lose the battle. the american people will turn on them. at the end of the day what the american people want in a deal is a balanced deal. and i think what you have heard from the white house reportedly is a balanced deal. the republicans want all spending. well, here's the problem. you cannot spend cut your way to solving the fiscal problems of this country. not when you take defense off the table. not when you take off all the things they want off the table. this is the dilemma we face and i hope republicans are blustering and not -- >> i guess, chris, to your point, we are here again and will continue.

we have the "wall street journal" article. i want to read a portion of it. speaker boehner says one point several weeks ago the president said to me, we don't have a spending problem. he repeated this message so often that the president became irritated abe said i'm getting tired of you hearing you say that. we have talked about ideological differences and how each side says that we can move forward to better this country but the bottom line is they do not see through the same prism in any respect so here we are again and we showed the calendar of the next battles ahead and to your point about the republicans suffering the damage of this, the american people being upset if there's another shutdown, we said this about the fiscal cliff negotiations ensimts that either the republicans are s&m and they like the pain and the citizens or they believe in their point of view and are willing to fight

even if polls are against them. >> well, i think they have come to the conclusion to fight and i think they're going to push it as far as they can in order to see who buckles first. but again, the problem here is it's the country that suffers. yes, we have to do something about the spending problem, we have deficits and debt. no one disputing that. not even the president. you can't ignore the fact that the way you solve it is not by simply eviscerating social problems like social security, medicare and medicaid. there's not enough money there. republicans don't want to hear that. there's not. you have to have a balanced way. this is more about politics once again than it is about policies. >> molly, let's transition quickly. i don't mean to rush this topic but it's intriguing for mitch mcconnell, as well, that right now the priority of this country is spending and the debt and that any kind of gun legislation, gun control legislation we won't see for another three months.

molly, what does that tell us about at least the strategy from the gop regarding gun control legislation. >> well, the nra and the republicans who support them, this is always their strategy is basically to slow walk any gun legislation -- >> but you and i know that at the end of the year we were told that things changed. newtown changed everything and wayne lappier going out and they said that the game changed after those lives were lost so the strategy of wait won't work. >> well, is that true or not? >> yeah. >> i think we will see if the pressure keeps up or fades. i think frankly a lot of the public sentiment has faded. a lot of public pressure has faded and the longer legislators wait to about on this the longer and the degree to which the president chooses to press it, whether he chooses to make it part of the inaugural or state

of the union remarks is a point, too. this is whether he has the political will to keep it on the radar. >> "the washington post" is reporting a more ambitious gun control legislation by the president. he wants the ideas before the state of the union and a part of that. i really appreciate your time. thank you for joining us. happy new year. >> thank you. >> thanks, tamron. a team of loyalists. that's what nbc's first read team calls president obama's newest cabinet picks. a team of loyalists. coming up, the message the president is sending by nominating kerry, hagel and brennan. details on secretary hillary clinton's first day back at work in a month after the hospitalization and a cool picture to show you of a gift her staff gave her and why senator rand paul's son's arrest at the airport, that's his m mugshot, and one of the things we thought you should know.

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she operates the head. [ male announcer ] campbell's chunky soup. it fills you up right. a welcomed return for secretary of state hillary clinton on her first day back at work since being hospitalized. clinton handed an interesting gift from colleagues. a white house football helmet with the state department's seal on the side of it and a football jersey with the number 112 for the number of countries she's visited adds secretary of state. her staff joked the gifts because washington is a contact sport. and the state department also released this photo showing secretary clinton meeting with top aides today. later this week meeting with defense secretary panetta and afghanistan's president hamid karzai. what barney frank is saying today about chuck hagel's nomination after blasting hagel a week ago over anti-gay comments he made 14 years ago. what barney frank is saying now.

and be sure to check out the "news nation" tumblr page. this is a photograph of myself and corey, one of my producers, doing the ray lewis. i'm all about the ravens. there's video. we'll never show it. there's your picture. and i honestly didn't think i would ever quit. [ male announcer ] along with support, chantix is proven to help people quit smoking. it reduces the urge to smoke. it put me at ease that you could smoke on the first week. [ male announcer ] some people had changes in behavior, thinking or mood, hostility, agitation, depressed mood and suicidal thoughts or actions while taking or after stopping chantix. if you notice any of these stop taking chantix and call your doctor right away. tell your doctor about any history of depression or other mental health problems, which could get worse while taking chantix. don't take chantix if you've had a serious allergic or skin reaction to it. if you develop these stop taking chantix and see your doctor right away as some can be life-threatening. if you have a history of heart or blood vessel problems, tell your doctor if you have new or worse symptoms. get medical help right away if you have symptoms of a heart attack.

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it worked for me. we asked total strangers to watch it for us. thank you so much. i appreciate it. i'll be right back. they didn't take a dime. how much in fees does your bank take to watch your money?

if your bank takes more money than a stranger, you need an ally. ally bank. your money needs an ally. welcome back. as the president prepares to announce more members of the second term cabinet this week, our first read team notes a significant departure of the president's first term picks saying, quote, the big signal president obama is sending by kerry, hagel and brennan is selecting people with whom he's comfortable and loyal to him. joining me now, nbc news senior political editor mark murray. from a team of rivals to a team of loyalists. >> that's right, tamron. you look at the first term and it was a team of rivals. you had secretary of state

hillary clinton, former primary rival. you had robert gates at the defense department. he was a holdover from the bush administration and leon panetta and general petraeus, hardly obama insiders but now all of a sudden you have people who seem to be much more on the obama team bandwagon, much more loyal to him. john kerry at the state department, he backed president obama early in the 2008 nomination fight. you now have chuck hagel, someone that obama worked closely with in the u.s. senate and he's been an adviser to him now in the white house and then john brennan at cia, someone who's been by his side for four years. >> what is the strategy? first read mentions jack reid and the statement praising chuck hagel. what's the strategy? you have people wondering why not take up the fight for susan rice and how are the dynamics different? >> as chuck todd pointed out,

there are as many as ten different democratic senators opposed to chuck hagel and it's going to be up to the white house to wage a significant campaign using some democrats like senator jack reid from rhode island to win them over. the white house probably decided that they needed to go ahead and fight for chuck hagel in this matter. i've heard from the white house that the susan rice and john kerry were pretty much tied folks going in to that state department gig. president obama going with john kerry but you are seeing the white house going for a full throttled fight to get and to win chuck hagel and not going to be easy. >> mark murray, thank you so much. happy new year. see you tomorrow. >> thanks. another group that's voiced opposition to chuck hagel's nomination is gay rights activists. at issue, comments hagel made in 1998 about james hor mel,

president bill clinton's nomi e nominee. he was called openly aggressively gay and called it an inhibiting factor. hagel apologized for the remarks last month. the group outserve reacted saying we appreciate his apology and the commitment he expressed to the lgbt service members and their families. it will be incumbent upon him to lay out actions he will take to support that commitment. joining me now alison robertson, director of that organization, outserve. thank you so much for joining us. >> thanks, tamron. great to be here. >> absolutely. i want to play what former congressman barney frank had to say early on. he was on saying if another group had a comments made about them, chuck hagel would be seeing more trouble and now barney frank is saying i was

hoping the president wouldn't n nominate him. the question is going to be afghanistan and scaling back the military. your response to those new comments that were in "the boston globe" of mr. frank? >> i think senator hague sell an exceptionally well qualified chosen for the posting. as a military daughter and granddaughter of an army sergeant, there's no one who knows better how to lead troops than sergeants but people in the lgbt have legislate concerns based on the voting record and the public statements he's made. >> let me play what president obama said on "meet the press" and asked about chuck hagel and the lgbt apology. >> with respect to the particular comment you quoted he apologized for it and i think it's a testimony of a positive change over the last decade in

terms of people's attitudes about, you know, gays and lesbians serving our country. >> and to the president's point during the time and not to excuse comments, it was a world of don't ask don't tell. many other issues. but if you were a part of the process in grilling chuck hagel, what would be your pointed first question to him regarding the comments or where he stands now even? >> well, i would raise that commitment that he has now made to support lgbt service members and their families and i would ask him if he's prepared to turn that commitment in to action. to extend military equal opportunity protections so any american to wear the uniform and qualified can do so without fear of harassment or discrimination. and i would want to know if he's prepared to do what the service chiefs have not done for the last two years and offer the full slate of benefit that is are not dependent upon the defensive marriage act to lgbt

service members and families. there is a distinct lack of equity. service members now post don't ask don't tell can be out. they're anything but equal and time for that to change. >> how much is it -- i don't want to necessarily say how much does it help but given that james hormel accepted the apology given his facebook since he was the target of those comments and even though one person can be the focus and hurt all people to hear something like that, does that at all pull back some of the anger i guess against the nomination? >> i think that it does. i think that the apology was sincere and that was heart felt but like any apology, we would very much like to see some action here. >> all right. we'll see if that question or one similar asked in the process and what the answer will be from them. thank you so much for your time. we greatly appreciate it.

>> a pleasure. thank you. coming up, i'm talk to michael tomaski. first time here in the new year with a message not for the gop this time. he's got a message for liberals out there. upset over the fiscal cliff deal. stop complaining. he says president obama is not captain liberal but a president who has to lead. michael will join us to explain. all of you who are upset now. but first, there's a lot going on today. here's some things we thought you should know. former u.n. ambassador bill richardson and google ceo in north korea despite criticism of the state department. richardson insists he is on a private humanitarian mission not representing the u.s. government and plans to ask about american kenneth bay who's been detained by north korea for an unspecified crime. the ceo says he wants a look at the social media. the 19-year-old son of

kentucky democrat rand paul is free on bail after being arrested over the weekend. william hilton paul was charged with underaged drinking as well as disorderly conduct. senator paul's office issued a statement saying as many parents with teenagers would understand, his family should be afforded the privacy and respect they deserve in a situation such as this. and if you were hoping to snag tickets to president obama's inaugural ball or parade, you are too late. i'm sorry to tell you. a limited number of tickets were supposed to go on sale this morning. but ticketmaster put them on sale yesterday. and they were all quickly snapped up. inaugural ball tickets, $60 each. parade tickets $25 and i'm sorry to tell you those are the things we thought you should know. you can prevent gas with beano meltaways,

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with the next round of budget negotiations around the corner, pressure for the type of deal president obama might be able to make is not just coming from republicans. it's also coming from democrats, as well. "the daily beast" writes, quote, obama isn't captain liberal. he's the president and liberal pundits up in arms about the fiscal cliff deal seem not to recognize the difference. obama is the head of a country. michael is here to join us now. thank you so much for joining us. >> thank you, tamron. >> you bring up entitlements and eventually will be addressed here but the fiscal cliff deal, a lot of people -- well, some progressives, anyway, feel they were given is short end of the stick. >> i think if you make a list of the things that obama got out of that deal and things that the republicans got out of that deal, obama's list is a lot

longer. you know, he got the tax increases, not the tax increases he wanted exactly, it's true. but he got the unemployment extension which the republicans didn't even insist got paid for as they say an offset. $30 billion of extra spending of unemployment and that's a big went and other things. the republicans didn't get very much at all. you know, certainly, that's an obama win. >> when you write in your article that he's not captain liberal. who are the folks maybe not by name you're referring to but those who believe somehow that's the president's role in this equation here of trying to get this economy going? >> well, look. you know, yeah, i won't name people but there are people like me who sit in these chairs and come on these shows who take a slightly different view than i do. that's fine. look, let 100 flowers bloom and everybody make different kinds of arguments. i believe that liberal pressure groups, groups like moveon,

should pressure obama to take as liberal a position as he could possibly take but people have to understand that, you know, he is the president of a country that's only about 25% liberal and it's his job really to marshal public opinion and get behind the opinions and isolate the republicans and means by definition reaching out to people that don't feel like necessarily moveon and doi. >> let's pick up on the issue of entitlements and what bernie sanders said earlier today. >> the american people have been very clear. they do not want to cut social security. >> right. >> medicare and medicaid. they do want to ask the wealthy and large corporations to pay more in taxes. >> gauge the unhappiness that perhaps looms ahead on those topics, when you think about some of your progressive and liberal friends who may not like

ultimately what comes out. >> polls show that not just liberals and democrats, independents and moderates and even republicans, majorities of republicans in many polls, oppose making big cuts or maybe any cuts, to social security and medicare. so, that is a position on which sanders is correct. unfortunately, unfortunately, that minority that does support such cuts is pretty overrepresented on capitol hill. that minority has more senators and members of congress speaking for it than it deserves and the people that obama has to play ball with. >> greatly appreciate it. another interesting article from you. starting the new year off making us think. thank you. >> thank you. coming up, it is our rg3 "gut check" next. join the countn and switch to olay pro-x. get cleansing results as effective as a $200 system. guaranteed or your money back.

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welcome back. time for the "gut check."

star quarterback robert griffin iii reinjured his bad knee in the first quarter yesterday and fell after throwing an incomplete pass and limping and remained in that game and then in the fourth quarter, rg3 falls on the ball after a bad snap and injured the knee again. this time had to leave the game for good. following the 24-14 loss, talk centered around the coach's decision to keep rg3 in that game. >> i talked to robert and robert said to me, he said, coach, there's a difference between being injured abe hurt. he said i'm hurting. i guarantee you i'm not injured. that was enough for me. >> i'm the quarterback of this team. my job is to be out there if i can play. the only time i couldn't play is when i went down. i took myself out of the game. i don't feel like me being out there just to tackle the next question, i don't feel like me being out there hurt the game at

all. >> joining me now, dave zihrn saying many may question, criticize and think they have all the right answers but few have been in the line of fire in the battle. >> a little perspective. it's not war. it's football. as the children of a military family, i frankly -- he should know better than to send a tweet like that. robert griffin iii is 22 years old. he is an athletic marvel and conditioned his life to be the person who says, i'm going to play no matter what. i was raised on images of michael jordan with the flu an playing hurt. these are where sports memories are made and this is why you have a 60-year-old head coach supposed to step in this moments like this and say, not today, son. it is not your day. you know what he did? he failed both tests, failed the test of the organization and the future by putting rg3 at risk in

this game and may be for the rest of his career because of this decision but he also failed the test of this game because it was obvious to everybody watching this game, this is not hindsight, this is like in the present tense when you're watching this game, obvious that after the first quarter and every statistic bears this out, he was not the same quarterback and washington was not the same team. >> what about those saying shanahan putting the ambitions ahead and showing that he can lead and win above the health of rg3? >> i think if that's found out to be the case -- >> we'll never know. that would be a personal thought. >> we don't know for sure but there are things we know for a fact. we know that mike shanahan is from a certain mind-set of coaching. he played at a division ii college almost died on the school of play. he would not come back in to the game after a defibrillator used

on him and petitioned the school formally to get back on the field to play. that's the mentality. but sometimes you have to step outside yourself and think he is the future of the franchise and the national football league and no business being on this field. and frankly, i think in that game i agree with gwen ifil. >> only one in this world that counts. >> i agree with gwen saying that this is a fireable offense. >> rough for fans but at least you don't consider the dallas cowboys your team. go cowboys. >> i do not. >> i do. that's why it's shameful. >> should be relegated to another league. >> talking too tough now, dave. >> sorry. >> we appreciate it. did the washington redskins risk the health of rg3? go to facebook.come/newsnation to cast your vote. and that does it for this edition of "news nation." currently, we are the ravens

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jimmy swaggart? this is "the cycle." president obama's second term defense team is taking shape as long as the senate confirms his picks. my friends, the odds right now are in the president's favor. today, the president formally nominated a republican former senator chuck hagel from nebraska as the new pentagon chief. talking about the for weeks. hagel backed both the afghan and iraq wars. hagel's also a vietnam war vet with two purple hearts and would be the nation's first pentagon chief to have seen combat as an enlisted soldier. he's come under fire for a gay slur of 15 years ago and he's apologized for. even though many may think those criticisms of iraq and

afghanistan is invalid. john brennan earned the stripes at the cia and runs counterterror ops which basically means he's running the drone program and fighting al qaeda which is not necessarily the same thing. cia isn't a cabinet position. and brennan isn't up against many roadblocks there. nor any major controversy on senator john kerry's nomination for secretary of state. so, since we're a cable news show, we have to talk about the fight. the fight and for and against hagel at the pentagon. start with an afghan war veteran, anthony schafer, friend of the program. and now with the cent ef of advance defense studies and john saltz, chairman of votevets.org. tony, do you like the pick? is this good for america? >> yes, it is. i think the fact may be as you said man with no party he speaks the truth and most important to